Atonement

Keira Knightly and James Mcavoy star in one of the best films of 2007. This film without a doubt made my top 5 list of last year. Based on the novel by Ian McEwan it unexpectedly captured the surprise ending of the book with perfect plausibility and without a hint of abruptness. The film is anything but rushed as the story lags along with what could seem as a bore to some viewers but the story is driven by a dark secret and interlaced with emotions from the main characters that makes the viewer love, hate and empathize with every character in the film at one point or the other. James Mcavoy considered the script the best he had ever read.

The story proves what human nature is capable of and justifies from each perspective presented in a messy love triangle. The director Joe Wright shows each significant event of the film from different viewpoints, which makes the viewer understand the motives behind each character. Briony Tallis is the story's main character, who even at 13 years old, has a jealous love interest in James Mcavoy's character Robbie Turner. She witnesses a moment of sexual interest between her sister and Robbie (which is seen from multiple perspectives) before she endorses a lie that causes the couple to separate and hold a forbidden love for each other. Without revealing the lie or what ensues as a result, I will just comment on the story itself as a whole.

Robbie enters the Second World war years later, and it seems that with each year that follows, the lie continues to consume Briony. Her character begins to daydream in polarized directions, from being with Robbie to what would happen if she revealed her lie. The story makes attempts to prove to the viewer the drastic consequence of a famished love that cannot be seized. The story skips years at a time evolving the lie into remorse followed by guilt which turns into Briony's anguish where she realizes that she not only has ruined her own life but the life of her sister and the only man she ever has truly loved, Robbie (who never loved her). She actually presents herself as a very innocent person, but proves that most people have secrets, hers turns out to be a very dark and malicious one which her selfishness holds onto not only to protect herself but because she still cannot stand the fact that Robbie belong to anyone else but her.

Briony writes a novel at the end of her life expressing her regret that she held inside for what turns out to be her entire life but in the book she gave an ending different from the reality, had been her chance to give her sister and Robbie the hope and the happiness that they had deserved— and that she had stolen from them. The novel is, therefore, her "atonement" for the naive but destructive acts of a 13-year-old child, which she has always regretted.
The film closes with a scene of a simple, joyful moment that Cecilia and Robbie might have had, if events had played out differently.
The direction of this film is not only extremely unique because of the many perspectives given of the exact same event or scene but it holds probably one of the greatest single-shot takes (5 1/2 minutes) I have ever viewed which takes place on Dunkirk beach and done in only four takes (the third one was used). It was conceived out of necessity, for the crew only had a day to film and had limited time with the 1,000 extras and had to shoot before the tide would come in and wash away the set. To give you an idea of what ensued in the scene, imdb reports:

"Shooting the five minute Dunkirk beach scene was arguably the toughest portion of shooting. The shooting schedule dictated that the scene must be completed in two days. However the location scouts report indicated the lighting quality at the beach was not good enough until the afternoon of the second day. This forced director Joe Wright to change his shooting strategy into shooting with one camera. The scene was rehearsed on the first day and on the morning of the second day. The scene required five takes and the third take was used in the film. On shooting, Steadicam operator Peter Robertson shot the scene by riding on a small tracking vehicle, walking off to a bandstand after rounding a boat, moved to a ramp, stepped onto a rickshaw, finally dismounting and moving past the pier into a bar."
A little personal side-note: The green dress Keira Knightly wears in the film is one I was able to see first hand in my trip to Hollywood this summer which was encased in a glass case in Universal Studios. Imdb states that "The dress has been named "the best of all time" by InStyle magazine, exceeding some classics as Audrey Hepburn's little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Marilyn Monroe's white dress in The Seven Year Itch (1955) or Vivien Leigh's red dress from Gone With The Wind (1939)."

CONSENSUS:

Rotten Tomatoes give this move a 83% rating

Zoom In Analysis will DISAGREE with this rating and give it a 9/10

Memorable scenes which stay with you for days, even weeks. The film presents one of the greatest love stories I've seen in years with a truly ironic, dark catch 22 situation for the main character. Although the film can be criticized for being slow-moving, I found the repetition of scenes and spaces between dialogue necessary to elicit the finer emotions that the story reveals not only in each character, but in the viewer as well. In fact, if someone attempts to say this movie was too "boring" or slow I not only disagree with you, I disrespect your entire taste in movies. This is a must see. I cannot wait until the Blu-ray is released as the cinematography and scenery in the film will be worth the wait in 1080p.